1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave oven, and more particularly, to a microwave oven having a door which is constructed to be half-cylindrically projected forward, so as to allow a cooking chamber to be observed from a variety of locations exterior of the microwave oven, and allow air fed into the cooking chamber to smoothly flow along an arcuate inside surface of the door, thus preventing moisture from condensing on the inside surface of the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is an appliance that cooks or heats food laid in a cooking chamber using microwaves that are generated by a magnetron disposed in a machine room. The microwave oven cooks or heats the food using a frictional heat produced between moisture molecules of the food, and generated by irradiating the microwaves into the cooking chamber. That is, the microwaves repeatedly change the molecular arrangement of moisture contained in the food to cook the food.
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a conventional microwave oven with its door 8 opened. As shown in FIG. 1, the microwave oven comprises a housing 1 having a machine room 2 and a cooking chamber 3 which are partitioned from each other in the interior of the housing 1. A magnetron 4 which generates microwaves, and a blower fan 5 which cools the magnetron 4 and discharges moisture and odor generated from food to the outside of the microwave oven are mounted in the machine room 2. The blower fan 5 discharges the moisture and odor by circulating air through the cooking chamber 3.
The cooking chamber 3 is constructed in a form of a box with its front opened. The cooking chamber 3 has a rectangular bottom 3a, a front end of which is laid on the same plane as a front of the cooking chamber 3. A turntable 6 which allows the food to be laid thereon, and a rotation guide (not shown) which rotatably supports the turntable 6 are mounted on the rectangular bottom 3a. The turntable 6 is rotated at a relatively low speed while being coupled to a motor (not shown) disposed under the cooking chamber 3.
The door 8 is rotatably hinged to one side of the housing 1 in front of the cooking chamber 3 so as to selectively open and close the cooking chamber 3. The door 8 is constructed in a form of a rectangle. A see-through member 9 having a plurality of see-through holes is fitted into a center portion of the door 8 to allow a user to see through the door 8. The door 8 including the see-through member 9 has planar front and back surfaces. Accordingly, where the door 8 is tightly closed, the planar back surface of the door 8 comes into close contact with the front of the cooking chamber 3, and the front of the door 8 constitutes a plane.
Where the microwave oven operates, the microwaves generated by the magnetron 4 are irradiated into the cooking chamber 3, and simultaneously, the turntable 6 is rotated at a relatively low speed. Accordingly, the food laid on the turntable 6 is cooked by the irradiated microwaves.
However, since the conventional microwave oven having the construction as described above is shaped in a form of a hexahedron and the see-through member 9 formed to allow a user to see through the door 8 constitutes a plane along with the frame of the door 8, the user has to observe the interior of the cooking chamber 3 with his eyes being level with the see-through member 9. That is, the user must adjust his/her body toward and directly in front of the see-through member 9 to ascertain a cooking status of the food.
Specifically, the door 8 of the conventional microwave oven and the see-through member 9 thereof are planar, and a region where the see-through holes are formed is small as compared to the overall size of the door 8. Therefore, the user has to approach the see-thorough member 9 to observe the interior of the cooking chamber 3. As a result, the conventional microwave oven is inconvenient and time-consuming for the user to ascertain the cooking status of the food being cooked in the cooking chamber. Therefore, the user cannot carry out other tasks and must remain attentive to the microwave oven while cooking the food with the conventional microwave oven.
Additionally, the conventional microwave oven has a planar door 8, so air fed into the cooking chamber 3 through air inlet holes (not shown) formed on one sidewall of the cooking chamber 3 is brought into collision with an inside surface of the planar door 8. Consequently, moisture generated from the food, for example, at the time of cooling, condenses on the inside surface of the planar door 8. Therefore, the user has a further difficulty in making a visual contact with the cooking chamber 3 through the planar door 8.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a microwave oven which allows a cooking status of food being cooked in a cooking chamber to be easily and rapidly ascertained from various locations outside of the microwave oven.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven which effectively prevents moisture generated from food from condensing on an inside surface of a door, thus improving a see-through function of the door of the microwave oven.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention, there is provided a microwave oven comprising a heating unit to cook food, a cooking chamber having an opening, and a door which selectively opens and closes the opening of the cooking chamber. The door comprises a frame which is constructed to form an outer edge of the door and be brought into contact with a rim of the opening and a see-through member which is adapted to correspond to the opening of the cooking chamber and prevent moisture of the food from condensing thereon, wherein the see-through member is projected forward to form an inner space in front of the cooking chamber so as to provide a multiple plane of views into an interior of the cooking chamber.
The see-through member may comprise a front plate having a half-cylindrical shape projected away from the cooking chamber, and top and bottom plates having a semi-circular shape which cover a corresponding top and bottom of the inner space formed in front of the cooking chamber, wherein the front and top plates include a plurality of see-through holes which provide optical views into the interior of the cooking chamber therethrough.
The microwave oven may further comprise a transparent panel attached to the front of the see-through member to prevent the interior of the cooking chamber from communicating with the outside of the microwave oven, through the see-through holes.
The microwave oven may further comprise air feed through holes to receive air into the cooking chamber and air discharge holes to discharge the air from the cooking chamber to the outside of the microwave oven. The air feed through and air discharge holes may be provided to corresponding sidewalls of the cooking chamber at respective positions adjacent to the door so as to have the air from the air feed through holes flow along an arcuate inside surface of the see-through member and prevent the moisture from condensing on the arcuate inside surface of the see-through member.
The see-through holes may be formed across an entire area of the see-through member so as to allow an effective visual view of the interior Of the cooking chamber.
The heating unit may include a magnetron which generates microwaves to cook the food, and the frame may include a plurality of choke slits which prevent a leakage of the microwaves from the cooking chamber through the door, where the opening is closed by the door.
The frame of the door may be sized so as not to obstruct the cooking chamber and have the inner space of the see-through member form a cooking space together with the cooking chamber.